Catholic Dilemmas

This week, I have become a columnist for the Catholic Herald. It is a short piece under the Leader called "Catholic Dilemmas." (People ask questions and I try to answer them.) The first one is about relics and what to do with them.

The Editor, Luke Coppen has given me a very kind notice in the Editor's Blog.

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Inside the Domus Sanctae Marthae

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How do I have a collection of photos from inside the Domus Sanctae Marthae ? you ask. Have the Blackfen papal ninjas organised a black op to get photos for the Hermeneutic of Continuity? The answer is more prosaic, I'm afraid. Back in 2010, for the International Colloquium of the Confraternities of Catholic Clergy I stayed there along with most of the other priests. I thought that I should take some photos of the room I was allocated (one of the better ones as it happens) since they might come in useful one day. Well I suppose today is that day. Above you can see the house chapel. Here is the study part of my superior room (the Cardinals are allocated the rooms by lot.) and here is the bedroom part: There are good, tall, cassock-friendly wardrobes with plenty of space (it has to be assumed that the Cardinals might be staying for a few weeks, even if most recent conclaves have been short) An interesting point for Americans; here is the small organ in the chape...
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1962 Missal pdf online

The Church Music Association of America and Jeffrey Tucker of the New Liturgical Movement have made available the 1962 Missal online in pdf format (72Mb). The file is hosted at Musica Sacra , the website of the CMAA, thanks to a generous gift from Fr Robert Skeris While you are at it, take a look at the articles clarifying the rules for music at Low Mass and music at High Mass .
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Saint Gabriel

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The angels call for our veneration and awe as part of God’s creation. Part of the destructive modernism of the 1970s included advice to Catholic school teachers that they should not talk to children about angels. This wrought lasting damage which continues to need rectifying. We should include in our prayers a heartfelt recourse to our own Guardian Angels. The Archangel Gabriel “God is my strength” would be terrifying were he to appear to any of us. Our Lady was “troubled” at the word of Saint Gabriel and wondered at the manner of the salutation. Immediately, according to his mission, the awesome messenger explained himself. Modern retelling of the event is often reduced to the jejune “Mary said Yes to God”. In fact, she said “Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it done to me according to thy word”. This conveys more accurately the flawless faith and trust of the Immaculata. In the infinitely wise providence of the Father, we now know the structure of the event in even more detai...
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Święcone - blessing of Easter food

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The blessing of meat, eggs and bread at the end of Lent is a Catholic tradition that has been preserved by the Polish people. A Polish family in my parish asked to bless their baskets of food (containing these items) on Holy Saturday so I arranged to do so at 11am, letting others know also. Above you can see a basket ( Święcone ) that was prepared as a gift for me. When I was asked to do this blessing by another Polish family a couple of years ago, I was intrigued to find that in my 1860 copy of the Roman Ritual ( above ), there is, precisely, a blessing of lamb, eggs and bread for Holy Saturday. This convinced me that the devotion kept by the Poles must have been something more widely practised in past centuries. The immediate explanation might be that this is the blessing of food at the end of the Lenten fast. It must be more than that. People would have abstained from meat, and from lacticinia (including eggs) but not from bread. Perhaps there is a more specifically eucharis...
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Domus Sanctae Marthae

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The conference of the Confraternities of Catholic Clergy of Australia and the US was based around the Domus Sanctae Marthae in the Vatican. Some of the participants were accommodated elsewhere but I was fortunate to be allocated a room in the DSM. The DSM was constructed in 1996 with the primary purpose of providing accommodation for Cardinals during the conclave to elect a new Pope. It is inside the territory of the Vatican City State, just past the Pope Paul VI Audience Hall. Run by the Daughters of Charity of St Vincent de Paul, it has 106 suites, 22 single rooms and one apartment. Apparently the DSM is often described in the media as a "five star hotel" and Professor Mary Ann Glendon had to contradict this misrepresentation. I was searching for an appropriate way to describe it when I remembered the phrase "noble simplicity" which is quite appropriate. Here is a photo of the bedroom. You will note that there is no Corby Trouser Press: In the other part of the ...
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